I'm not sure if this is as bad as it looks, but I'm interested in seeing what other people think. In danps's post on emergent party laziness, I commented that Greens were irrelevant in California, because other than the presidential race, there are none on our ballot. Boy, was I wrong.

I completely forgot about the recently passed "top two" legislation, which is now spreading to other states -- where it is preventing third parties from even appearing on voters' ballots.

Under Bush, economic inequality was bad, as 65 cents of every dollar of income growth went to the top 1 percent. Under Obama, however, that number is 93 cents out of every dollar. That’s right, under Barack Obama there is more economic inequality than under George W. Bush. ... most of this shift happened in 2009-2010, when Democrats controlled Congress. This was not, in other words, the doing of the mean Republican Congress. And it’s not strictly a result of the financial crisis; after all, corporate profits did crash, like housing values did, but they also recovered, while housing values have not.

Last week Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein was arrested, along with VP candidate Cheri Honkala, attempting to get into the presidential debates in Hempstead, New York. This week her fight continues with a lawsuit filed today [October 22] against the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), claiming that the CPD, Democratic National Committee, and Republican National Committee, together with the Federal Election Commission and Lynn University, had deprived her of her constitutional rights to due process, equal protection, and free speech, as well as her statutorily protected civil rights.

Yes, I'm really happy that I don't have to vote for a Tea Party candidate in order to stick a thumb in the eye of Democrat Mike Doyle. I will get a certain satisfaction from touching the screen for Green Ed Bortz. (Not as much as from pulling the lever -- cachunk! -- on the old machines, never mind my total distrust of electronic digital voting machines.)

Yes, I know Doyle's chance of losing this seat is zero. That's why my vote is no more than a thumb in the eye.

A little while ago I did a piece on tweeting the fear card, and the attempts of certain supporters of the Democrats in this year's elections to persuade dissatisfied and angry progressives that severe damage will be done to the country if the Republicans take over the House, the implication being that severe damage will not also be done if the Democrats retain control of the House. As the election has approached the fear card is being supplemented by the guilt card. Read more about The Fear Card and the Guilt Card

I don't know if anyone pays attention to the generic ballot for Congress, but things are looking up lately for Republicans. The aggregate on Pollster.com shows a generic Republican polling only two points behind a generic Democrat; at several polling outfits, notably Rasmussen Reports, Republicans are ahead substantially in the generic ballot. Coupled with the losses Democrats suffered in the New Jersey and Virginia governors' races this month, you could argue that 2010 is shaping up to be a bad year for the Democratic Party. Read more about ThirdPartyTalk: Setting the Board

Let’s talk about third parties. Our role model should be Senator Bernie Sanders. He ran for mayor of Burlington, Vermont as a socialist and won. Since I am pig ignorant about Vermont politics, I have no insight into his original election; but the rest of his career is clear enough. He was a good mayor. The people of Burlington liked him, and Burlington is the largest city in Vermont. When the congressional seat came open (Vermont only has one, which is one more than DC, but never mind that) Sanders declared and the Democrats endorsed him. He was a good Congressman and low and behold, when the Senate seat came open the Sanders declared and Read more about Third parties

Winter is coming so PLEASE help lambert...

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The 12-point platform

"The 12-Point Platform" is a simple list of common-sense programs that will benefit every American, no matter their class, gender, race, or age (PDF).

/boh-go's*-tee/ n. 1. The degree to which something is bogus.[B]ogosity is measured with a bogometer; in a seminar, when a speaker says something bogus, a listener might raise his hand and say "My bogometer just triggered". More extremely, "You just pinned my bogometer" means you just said or did something so outrageously bogus that it is off the scale, pinning the bogometer needle at the highest possible reading (one might also say "You just redlined my bogometer"). ... 2. The potential field generated by a bogon flux; see quantum bogodynamics. See also bogon flux, bogon filter, bogus.

Citibank Plutonomy files

"What could go wrong?
Beyond war, inflation, the end of the technology/productivity wave, and financial collapse, we think the most potent and short-term threat would be societies demanding a more ‘equitable’ share of wealth."

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